Meet our speakers
Practitioner * Teacher * Author * Consultant * Presenter 
Before becoming a medical doctor, Aviva Romm, a much-loved and recognized expert in midwifery, women’s health, and women’s and pediatric botanical medicine, practiced as a homebirth midwife and herbalist for over 20 years, becoming one of the first certified professional midwives (CPM) in the US and writing her now classic books The Natural Pregnancy Book and Naturally Healthy Babies and Children. Her other books include Natural Health After Birth, Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide, ADHD Alternatives (with her husband Tracy Romm, EdD), A Pocket Guide to Midwifery, and the textbook Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health (Elsevier).
Her numerous books are regarded as standards by mothers, midwives, herbalists, and other health professionals using herbs for women’s and children’s health. Additionally, she has written numerous articles, has published in medical journals, and has contributed to several major integrative medicine textbooks.
A graduate of Yale School of Medicine where she received the Internal Medicine Award for “outstanding academic achievement and community service,” Aviva also completed her intern year in Internal Medicine at Yale where she was instrumental in creating the school’s first integrative medicine curriculum. Her numerous distinctions include serving as the President of the American Herbalists Guild for over a decade, serving as the Medical Director for American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP), being on the advisory board for Yale Integrative Medicine, creating curricula on integrative internal medicine and pediatrics for residency programs at the Yale School of Medicine, acting as an expert on botanical medicine for pregnancy, lactation, and pediatrics for the Botanical Safety Handbook, teaching as an adjunct faculty for the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, and Women’s Health Director for Sharewood, a nationally recognized student run free-clinic in the Boston area. She has been active in establishing standards for botanical medicine practice and education in the United States, and is a much sought after teacher, having taught at numerous national herbal, midwifery, and medical conferences and in private seminars, as well as being a guest on nationally syndicated radio programs. She is currently completing her residency in Family Medicine in the Cambridge Health Alliance and at Tufts University in Boston, MA. Aviva is the Director of Herbal Medicine for Women, a distance learning program, and Pediatrics for Parents, an innovative and intensive seminar empowering parents to take more responsibility for their children’s health, naturally.
Aviva combines her skills as a physician, midwife, and herbalist to offer comprehensive, insightful clinical care, education, writing, and consulting on pregnancy and birth, women’s health, women’s and pediatric botanical medicine, health and ecology, and natural living. Aviva is also the mother of four spectacular, grown-up children.
Aviva's goal is to continue to serve as a bridge between the alternative and conventional medical communities, fostering the growth of a truly integrative, trans-disciplinary health care model, and promoting greater access to health care. Her primary commitment is to practicing and teaching clinical medicine, promoting an environmental basis for health, and continuing to care for mothers, children, and families. Her areas of research include botanical medicine for women and children, mind-body medicine, evidence based maternity care, and the impact of environment on health. She is a gardener, artist, and visionary physician.
